Loser to challenge Indonesia election result

JAKARTA: The ex-general who lost Indonesia’s presidential election to Joko Widodo will challenge the result in court, his campaign team said yesterday, a move that could spell weeks of uncertainty for the world’s third-biggest democracy.

Widodo, the reform-minded governor of Jakarta seen as a break from the autocratic era of dictator Suharto, was named the winner Tuesday after results showed he resoundingly defeated his only rival Prabowo Subianto.

Before the result was announced, Prabowo -- who was a senior general in the years of authoritarian rule and has been dogged by human rights abuse allegations -- angrily announced he was withdrawing from the election process.

Prabowo accused his opponent of cheating in the vote count.

Members of his campaign team indicated Tuesday he would not challenge the result in the Constitutional Court, as had been widely expected, because he was no longer a participant in the election. But in a surprise announcement yesterday, a spokesman for Prabowo insisted that he had not withdrawn from the whole election process, only the vote count -- meaning he could still contest the result and planned to do so.

Analysts do not expect a court challenge to succeed given the size of Widodo’s victory but it nevertheless signals weeks of uncertainty, as the court will likely issue a ruling on August 21.

Prabowo team spokesman Tantowi Yahya announced the decision to contest the result and said a challenge would be filed within three days.

He said the challenge would be directed at the election commission, which Prabowo has accused of mishandling the vote, adding his side considered 21 million votes to be in dispute. AFP